New Paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology

On September 21, the Press Office of the Holy See published the list of participants for the Special Assembly for the Pan-Amazonian Region, to be held in the Vatican from October 6 to 27, 2019. Among the nominees are two Marists from Brazil: Brother João Gutemberg from the Province of Sul Amazonia and Joaquim Alberto Andrade Silva from the Province of Brasil Centro-Norte.

Brother Gutemberg will take part as a listener. He has been invited because he is the organizer of REPAM's activities and initiatives related to integral ecology. For his part, Joaquim Alberto is one of the 25 specialists invited and he will be present as one of the experts in pastoral and human rights.

For Joaquim, "the expectation is to collaborate in a prophetic and coherent way with the voices that emanate from all over the Amazonian territory. To be loyal to the calls and cries of the Amazonian peoples. A profound desire to be a new instrument that encourages the development of new paths in order to take care of our Common Home".

With regard to his expectations for the Synod, Brother João affirms: "I have the strong conviction that the Synod for the Amazon will achieve greater effectiveness in the evangelisation of the world.

 He has been invited because he is the organizer of REPAM's activities and initiatives related to integral ecology. For his part, Joaquim Alberto is one of the 25 specialists invited and will be present as one of the experts in pastoral and human rights.

For Joaquim, "the expectation is to collaborate in a prophetic and coherent way with the voices that emanate from all the Amazonian territory. To be loyal to the calls and cries of the Amazonian peoples. A profound desire to be a new instrument that encourages the development of new paths in order to take care of the Casa Común".

With regard to his expectations for the Synod, Brother João affirms: "I have the hopeful conviction that the Synod for the Amazon will achieve greater effectiveness in the evangelisation of peoples and the care of life in our Common Home: both in the Amazon and beyond, since we are all connected by the Gospel of Creation".

Joaquim Alberto

Joaquim is a layman who worked as an adviser in the Area of Consecrated Life and Laity of UMBRASIL, from 2010 to 2014. He currently works as a  Pastoral Expert for the UBEC Group – Brazilian Union of Catholic Education an Educational group that has as one of its associates the Marist Province of Brasil Centro-Norte. He is married to Rachel, who is closely involved in the area of Consecrated Life and Laity in the Province. They have two children

In the pre-synodal process, he was one of the collaborators in the task of systematizing and analyzing the listening carried out by the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM), throughout the Amazon territory, in the nine countries that make up the biome. Systematization and analysis that served as the content for the preparation of the Instrumentum Laboris of the Synod.

Brother João Gutemberg

Brother João was born in Cruzeiro de Sul, in the state of Acre, in the Amazonian interior  at the confluence of Brazil with Peru and Bolivia. He  studied there  and received vocational and formative accompaniment from the Marist missionaries who arrived in the Region in 1968 and from the Congregations there at the present time. He continued his studies in southern Brazil and Europe. In the apostolic mission, he worked almost always in the Amazonian context: education, pastoral and formation. At present he integrates and helps to articulate the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network – REPAM, in the coordination of the Axis of Formation and methods of pastoral accompaniment in the perspective of Integral Ecology, which connects the 9 Amazonian countries. Likewise, he is part of the Commission of Consecrated Life for the Amazon of the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious, CLAR.